Volume 105, Issue 3 Modesto High School February/March 2018

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February/MarchAnimal Shel-ters around the Holidays

Winter Homecoming

Perspectives on Homecoming Royalty

Winter Sports

Academic Decathalon Mock Trial An Irish

New Year

Spring Sports

Teen Driving

By Shelby Benz

By Margaret Peterson & Matthew Smith

By Gisselle RiveraBy Anna &Sarah Rinne

By Mehar NijjarBy BriannaDonnelly

By Rahul & Rohin Walia

By Tera Waterman & Chandara Tep

By Lauren Byerly

An Opinion on the Never Again MSD Movement By Jasmine LÓpez

18 H StreetModesto, CA 95351

Editors:Shelby Benz and Jasmine López

Panther Press Staff:Lauren Byerly, Aryanna Davis, Breanna Donnelly, Mehar Nijjar, Anna Rinne, Sarah Rinne, Gisselle Rive-ra, Matthew Smith, Chan-dara Tep, Michelle Tipton, Rahul Walia, Rohin Walia

Cover Banner by Scott Mitchell

Adviser: Kerrie Glenn

The Panther Press is cre-ated for and by students of Modesto High School. The goal is to bring news to MHS and to acknowledge ideas, events, and individu-als on campus in an unbi-ased and professional man-ner. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the journalism staff and guest writers and not of Modesto High School or Modesto City Schools.

This publication may also be accessed at mohipantherpress.com.

Animal AdditionsAnimal Shelter Numbers Increase Around Certain Holidays According to the National Kitten Coalition, over the course of a year in the United States 7.6 million animals enter animal shelters. The Stanislaus County Animal Shelter reports that many of the animals which reside in the shel-ter enter the shelter around 3 major holidays: New Year’s Eve, the Fourth of July, and Christ-mas. The influx around New Year’s Eve and the Fourth of July happens directly on these hol-idays because they are holidays that typically use fireworks, which scare animals and cause them to run away from home. These animals are then turned in by citizens who see them roaming the streets and are taken to the shelter to be housed and hopefully reconnected with their old families or adopted into new, loving homes.

One way for a person to avoid confu-sion if a pet has run away is to chip them. The term “chip” refers to a small microchip insert-ed under the skin of the animal on which the name and address of the owner of said animal is stored. Shelters check animals for chips and thus can acquire the information stored on them and return them to their families.

The reason for the rise in animals before Christmas is unknown, even by those working at the Stanislaus County Animal Shelter. How-ever, there have been several proposed reasons for this change in admittance rates to shelters in Modesto and across the country. It is sus-pected by some that this is due to families buy-ing new animals and dropping off older ones at shelters or not knowing they have become responsible for in the purchase of an animal. The Huffington Post has reported that many believe that the influx is due to holiday travels,

which cause families to be unable to look after their pets, and the inability to care for animals due to the costs that come with the holiday season and gift giving traditions.

The lesson to learn from the issues that other people have with pet ownership is to make sure that one is ready for the responsibilities that come with pet adoption. If a person feels ready to get a pet, one should make certain to adopt and support animal shelters rath-er than supporting puppy mills by buying. Adopt, don’t shop! Many animal shelters have services where one can even play with the pet before finalizing an adoption decision. Plus, there is a large number of animals which are found at Modesto High which are usually put into the animal shelter. If you want your own school-spirit dog you might find one there at the shelter!

The first week back from winter break, January 16th-19th initiated this year’s annual basketball homecoming cel-ebrations. School spirit radiated from stu-dents in excitement over all of the hallway decorations, dress-up days, an exciting rally, homecoming royalty, the homecom-ing dance, and, of course, the basketball game. Modesto High leadership students helped the school prepare for the game by spending countless hours preparing to decorate the hallway. On Tuesday, the freshmen started the semester with a Wii Sports themed hallway while students rocked their pajamas. Sophomores en-couraged students to recreate their favor-ite memes and “Just Dance” through the hallway. College gear was spotted every-where around campus, accompanying the juniors’ Sonic the Hedgehog themed hallway. When the day of the game finally arrived, Modesto High students showed their school spirit alongside the seniors’ Mario Kart hallway. Beth Romeo, a soph-omore leadership student enjoyed setting up the hallway because she “got to see how all the work [she’d] been putting in over the last month was actually for some-thing.” She also loves this tradition be-cause “[she] felt a great level of satisfaction and pride” seeing what she collaboratively created. She also said, “I love seeing what all the other classes prepared.”

Friday afternoon, hundreds of students gathered in the Big Gym to celebrate the game. Junior Anna Banh recalled, “I really liked the music played by the school band.” She also loved “the performance from all of Modesto High”, referring to the inspirational demon-stration of spirit. The rally consisted of school cheers, cheerleader dances, and the crowning of Sophomore Prince and Princess and Junior Prince and Princess. The title of Sophomore Prince went to Jeremy Kwon and Sophomore Princess went to Martha Wenstrup. The title of Junior Prince went to Carson Hull and Junior Princess went to Safa Sareshwala, who said, “I’m so happy that my friends and family were there to support me.”

Winter Homecoming 2018 by Anna Rinne and Sarah Rinne

Junior Prince Carson Hull and Junior Princess Safa Sareshwala at the Homecoming rally.

Homecoming also consists of activities that occur throughout the big game. Between the JV and varsity game, each individual class presents a float and skit that represents their theme. A panel of judges then watches and scores their performances. The freshmen had a fun skit where they acted as if they were Mii characters in the Wii Sports game. Their float represented a Wii console with a Wii Sports disc protruding out of it. The freshman skit included a tennis match and a lively dance number to end it off. The sophomores brought lots of energy and spirit into their Just Dance inspired skit. They danced cheerfully to many songs that are featured in the Just Dance game alongside their float, which was a DJ booth with speakers. The juniors then performed a choreographed dance to the 80s song “Supersonic”. To correlate with their dance, they wore brightly colored 80s themed outfits to help set the mood. Their float was the Sonic race car as it rolled around Modesto High School’s mascot, the panther. Lastly, the seniors ended off their last homecoming with a very enter-taining skit inspired by Mario Kart. Their skit featured some fan-favorite characters including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and Bowser. The seniors’ float acted as the castle that Bowser takes Princess Peach away into. The crowd was excited to see the skits, and definitely walked away satisfied.

During halftime, the senior Homecom-ing King and Queen were announced. The nominees lined up in front of boxes. On the count of three, all of the nominees opened up the boxes in front of them. The winners’ box-es contained a balloon that floated up when it was opened. Senior Class President Matthew Soares and Modesto High’s ASB President Lauren Bridges won Homecoming King and Queen. Lauren Bridges commented, “I was so excited and surprised that I won Home-coming Queen! It was such a fun experience and I’m really grateful to have won at my last homecoming.” In conclusion, 2018 Winter Homecom-ing was an amazing week. Towards the end of the game on Friday, the announcer publicized the Homecoming activity results. The seniors placed first, the freshmen placed second, and the sophomores placed third, followed by the juniors. Although the varsity team ended up losing by four points (65-69), students re-mained loud and spirited in the Black Hole throughout the whole game, continuing to support their team and end Homecoming on a positive note.Photos by Eduardo Alba

Photo by Eduardo Alba

Every winter, we nominate, vote for, and celebrate our homecoming nominees and victors. Weeks prior, individual clubs, and organizations nominate peers that they think best represent their class and those people are compiled onto a scantron. After this initial voting, the top three boys and girls in every category: sophomores, juniors, and senior, are voted for and announced at the rally on the afternoon of the homecoming game. Each nominee is paired up with someone from their same class, and the couple skips, jumps, or runs down the court doing a handshake or skit that has prob-ably been done a million times before. Sophomore and junior prince and princess are crowned at the rally while we are forced to wait in anticipation for the seniors to be crowned King and Queen at that night’s game. As the game begins and the classes walk their “floats” across the court, the winners from the previous afternoon line up with their families on one side, and the senior nominees line up with their families on the other. Each senior is announced with a biography, summarizing the last 4 years of their life in 30 seconds as their parents walk them through a balloon arch and they take their places on the court. This particular homecoming was a little different. Instead of simply announcing who had won, boxes were placed in front of each nominee. If they opened the box and a balloon flew out, they won. If their box was empty, they had lost. Winners were announced, bouquets of flowers and crowns were handed out, and the ceremony was

shortly forgotten as a close and aggressive basket-ball game resumed. Sadly, this story is the same every year. The same kids are nominated from the same groups on campus, and the diversity of the school is not repre-sented in the homecoming court or royalty. Of the over 2,000 students on the Modesto High campus, every single prince, princess, king, and queen were leadership students. This is not an attack on the students that won, or the class itself because the leadership class does a lot for school spirit and pride. However, there is obviously an issue within the vot-ing and election that must be addressed because the probability of every student having this one thing in common is astronomically unlikely. As we returned from winter break, the first Tuesday back was the day that we, the student body, voted for who we thought deserved to be royalty. After this initial voting, there was an announcement that those votes were not going to count, and that we needed to go vote again the following day. So let’s be honest, first of all, who votes in these elections? And second of all, who is going to take time of our their lunch, again, to vote? The people who are running the election. Part of the responsibility for this lack of diversity falls upon the student body. Just like the United States, our turn outs for elections are abysmal, a truth I am guilty of myself as well. One of the pillars of what Modesto High stands for is the diversity of the student body, and how we must use this to our advantage. For something we value so much, it sure does not show

Margaret Peterson, Junior

An Outdated Tradition?

a.k.a. Homecoming Royalty

“Of the over 2,000 students on the Modesto High campus, every single prince, princess, king, and queen were leadership students.”

As is tradition, the 2000 plus students of

Modesto High nominate whomever they deem to be

worthy of Homecoming Royalty. Usually, the leader-

ship students are responsible for raising awareness

and getting fellow students to participate in the

election. However, this year the student participation

was a measly 500 votes and about 50 of those votes

originate from the leadership students themselves.

Any leadership student that is nominated for royalty

have a built-in advantage. On the surface, this may

seem unfair, but the lack of student votes can’t fall

solely on the shoulders of the leadership students.

A pervasive sense of apathy toward the tradition of

homecoming royalty lands squarely on the shoul-

ders of the student body. The leadership students

work to make posters, advertise upcoming events in

the morning announcements, and take time to in-

form other students. That’s not to say that leadership

can’t improve its efforts to inform students, but it’s

Matthew Smith, Junior

in this year’s winter homecoming royalty. In light of these conclusions the question must be asked, if the system has become rigged? If the student body is not engaged, why should we continue? And an even more important question must be asked, has the time come for this antiquated tradition to die entirely?

not simply a leadership issue. Leadership students

have gone into classes in an effort to encourage

more students to participate in school leadership

and work to have all groups of students represent-

ed.

WINTER SPORTS

The winter sports start in November and end in the middle of February. The sports available in winter are soccer, basketball, wrestling for boys and girls and cheer of course because the basketball players need to have the cheerleaders there to hype them up. Each sport requires one to try out and there is conditioning for all.

BOYS SOCCERSenior Varsity Soccer player Ricardo Becerra sais, “As of right now we are 3-4-3 and have been doing really good this season with less players.” Coach Casillas has been motivating them to do better and practicing so much be-cause of the fact they have lost many players.

WRESTLINGWrestling- Senior Yasmin Caballero sais, “The varsity wrestling has been pretty good. Whey lost against Beyer, Davis and Enochs but won against all the other schools.”

CHEERLEADINGThe cheerleaders have been doing some amazing performances this sea-son with the help of their amazing coach, Dottie. Their homecoming dance is always the most talked about because they always go all out, and sure enough the girls did the same this season. Recently one of the varsity cheerleaders lost her dad and the squad had a mini performance for him at the house, and also for the basketball senior night everyone wore black and orange for her father.

Homecoming was a success for the boys. They played against Enochs and had a great score. It was a very intense game for both the players and the crowd. The boys have had a great season like they usually do.

BASKETBALL

By Breanna Donnelly

Flexing Cerebral MusclesModesto High Academic Deathlon Team Improves and

Has the Medals to Prove It

For the past few months, a team of students at Modesto High School have studied for the Aca-demic Decathlon. These students have put in hours of studying for this year’s county competition which focused on Africa. Students compete on either the official team or the alternate team. The official team can consist of up to nine members, split between varsity, scholastic, and honors levels, based on stu-dents’ cumulative GPAs. The Academic Decathlon competition this year took place at Ceres High School. The schools represented come from all around Stanislaus County. The teams arrived by 7:15 in the morning, and were ready to test by 8:00. The students took tests in seven subject areas: math, science, social science, art, mu-sic, literature, and economics. Members also took an essay test in January, and the official team completed a speech and interview. After taking the tests, the official teams compete in the Super Quiz, answering questions in front of a gym full of spectators. After all tests are completed, scores are taken into account, and awards, medals, trophies, and plaques are prepared. The Modesto High Academic Decathlon Team did an amazing job this year, much better than last years competition, and even man-aged to earn the Most Improved Team Trophy. The team earned medals in almost all categories, includ-ing numerous first place medals. Several of this year’s team members are se-niors, so the team will definitely be looking for new

members. Knowing this was the last year for many members of the team, drove many of the competitors to be extremely motivated in their efforts to win med-als or plaques, or for some members, team sweaters. Team member Thavie Keary said, “Academic Decathlon is a group of people who are dedicated to learning and have a tone of fun while doing it!” The Modesto High School Academic Decath-lon team highly encourages Panthers to come join them for the competition next year. For more infor-mation on medal-winners, please visit the Panther Press website - mohipantherpress.com.

LEFT: Sophomore, Rachel Thompson, takes one of many exams. Thompson was the MHS top point earner, had the highest essay score in the county, and received a first place medal for her speech.

RIGHT: Senior, Eeman Khan shows off her first place medal in math. Khan also earned a third place medal for her speech.

LEFT: Senior,Brendan Hulse, sporting two of his five medals. Hulse medaled in liter-ature, economics, math, interview, and essay.

Mock it Up

Mock it Up Mock Trial is a program initiated by the Consti-tutional Rights Foundation (CRF) in order to inspire an active understanding of the United States judicial system and law. In doing so, students are able to devel-op analytical and critical thinking skills, acquire public speaking experience, and obtain more efficient means of communication. Currently, there are 36 California counties that participate in the program.

Each year, the CRF designs new materials for student use, including a hypothetical criminal case, trial mate-rials, and information on central issues that are relevant to the case. Each person on the Mock Trial is assigned a role to rehearse and authenticate for the purposes of the Mock Trial competition while obtaining more information regarding the procedures and practices of the courtroom. The importance of understanding the constitution and the unalienable rights of the people lies in the idea of knowing the structure of the country and the unalienable rights of the people in their pursuit of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The Modesto High team boasts a history of success-es throughout its Mock Trial career. With the help of student alumni, local attorneys, and coaches Ms. McAl-lister and Mr. Mitchell, the Modesto High Mock Trial team has been a force to be reckoned with - learning and growing with knowledge and a more profound understanding of the importance of law in maintaining order in society.

The students have worked together since the begin-ning of September, dedicating countless days and nights to practice in preparation for the Mock Trial county competition. In many ways, the club has brought to-gether a collection of passionate individuals that have become part of a family under the wings of such a supportive community. In describing his experience in Mock Trial, prosecuting attorney, Damian Sablan, stat-ed, “I really love crushing our opponents.” The team has shared experiences of variety including: fits of laughter, passionate flares of rebuttal, and competition wins and losses. Like other activities and sports, Mock Trial is a feat of collaboration, teamwork, trust, and comradeship. The defense and prosecution groups were dependent on each other to practice and grow in their ability to elaborate on the basis of their characters to make their court case.

For many, it is an opportunity to grow and learn with the assistance of others. Taylor Tran, who portrayed the defendant, decided to join Mock Trial “…because I really wanted to get out of my comfort zone and work on my public speaking skills.”

At the culmination of the season, MoHi held its own in a fight for the winning ticket to the state competition. Although the Modesto team did not win 1st place in the county, the season filled the hearts of its participants with love, friendship, and invigorated excitement for the year to come.

“Mock Trial is a program like no other, and I love being able to take part in such a unique and fascinating experience” - Jack Ford

5! 4! 3! 2! 1! The universal countdown to the start of new promises, new relationships, new experiences. New Year’s celebra-tions vary from country to coun-try, by custom to custom. This past winter break, I had the oppor-tunity to experience the start of this year in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Festivities are a seemingly much longer and common or-deal in Scotland. Regardless of whether you have big plans for the night, it is regular to walk on the streets and see apartment windows of gathered friends and family, usually drinking and play-ing music. We, too, bought ciders, dressed-up in fancy clothes, and

walked several blocks to a friend’s apartment, where I met some of the sweetest people. We played card games, listened to music and a young woman, Anne, told me more about the New Years she ex-perienced growing up on the Scot-tish islands. There, she told me, people “party” for hours until sun-rise and then run into the ocean as a tradition to start the new year. The tradition of running into the sea is also known as the “Polar Bear Plunge”, where people col-lectively refresh themselves in wake of a newly unfolding chap-ter. After the “pre-party”, I had the honor of attending a popular event known as the Ceilidh under

A Scottish New YearBy Mehar Nijjar

the Castle, on West Princes Street Gardens. The event started at 8:30 P.M. as hundreds of people gath-ered on the grounds directly below the castle to take part in traditional Scottish dances. A band consist-ing of a person on the bagpipes played folk songs (with a twist) on a large stage. Part of the whole activity is to switch partners and meet new people – I found this to be a very humanizing and positive aspect of the event. Everyone was all-smiles as they hopped, prome-naded, and spun with one another. Towards the end of the count-down, fireworks appeared from behind the castle and the tradition-al Scottish folk song, Auld Lang Syne was played. We all embraced each other and sang along – a

truly inspiriting moment to be in a foreign country and to find the same warmth and geniality as you would with your closest compan-ions.

Hogmanay: (n.) hog – mun – ei The Scottish word that is used to refer to a New Year’s celebration.

Foreeeee!!! The golf season has begun, and the boys are ready to start swinging their clubs. Coach Wagner said, “I am excited for the new golf year, especially since we have a lot of young golfers joining the team.”

Tiiiiime (as runners pass the finish line)!!! With the track season underway, Modesto High is looking to train their student-athletes as gold medalists. Coach Battig said, “It’s not all about winning, but more about learning.”

Game, Set, Match!!! The tennis season is here, and the tennis players are ready to compete. Coach Mitchell said, “We had a great year last year, hopefully we have an even better year this year.”

Spring SportsGOLF

TRACK

S

TENNIS

Splaaaash!!! The swim season has begun and with Coach Chiavetta’s last year as head coach, the team is looking to have its best season of Coach Chiavetta’s coaching career. Coach Chiavetta said, “As my last year coaching, I intend to become MMC champs once more.”

By Rohin Walia and Rahul Walia

A driver’s permit is something all young driv-ers need before finally getting a license. If you are a minor, the permit is a requirement you must fulfill before you can get your license. All young drivers

can start to work toward the freedom of the road at the young age of 15 ½. To start off you must com-

plete a DMV approved driver education course. You have the choice of completing the online educa-

tion course or take the class in person. Both classes require a minimum of 30 hours. Upon completion, you can head out to your local DMV and take your permit test for a fee of $35. You can miss up to a total of 8 questions. If you fail the test you must

wait at least 7 days before you take it again. If you fail up to 3 times you must pay another fee of $35

to retake the test. After you have passed your permit test you are required to take at least one of your three 2 hour

sessions or two 3 hour sessions with a driving in-structor, before you can drive with a licensed adult.

During your sessions, your instructor will go over the rules of the road with you, to make sure you

remember them from the permit course. A few driv-ing schools you can go through are Code 4, Love’s

Safe Driving School, or Turlock Driving School. They will generally pick you up at a given time, and by

the end of lesson they let your drive home. Once you have completed your first session, your driving instructor will sign your permit. This now allows you to drive with your parent. You, along with your parent should keep a log of the hours

you drive because you need a total of 60 hours to get your license, and 10 of those hours have to be at night. After your driving sessions and total of 60 hours of driving, you are ready to take your driving

test. One recommendation is that your have your final session right before you take your test.

Here at The Panther Press we would like to stress safe driving. Please do not text ot talk on the phone while driving. Also never drink and drive or drive under the influence of any other drug. Always be responsible while you are driving. Lastly, if you’re driving with friends, do not let them distract you from the road.

Tera Waterman and Chandara Tep

Driver’s Crash Course

How many More Lives?

The Never Again MSD is an organization that formed in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. The lives of 17 students, daughters, sons, nephews, nieces, grandchildren, friends, and humans were lost to a gunman, using a semi-automatic AR-15 rifle on February 14, 2018. The shooting that I believe my genera-tion was first impacted by, because we are able to remember it, was the mass school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 in which 26 adults and children were lost. We all thought it would never happen again, yet according to Ev-erytown there have been 290 school shootings since Sandy Hook. Every morning we go to school sure that a shooting won’t happen at our school, which is what the students at Stoneman Douglas High School thought on the morning of February 14. Most students were thinking of practice or an upcoming test, not where they should hide in order to pro-tect themselves. Other countries have also been affected by school shootings. The difference between them and us is that they acted to protect their children. The Never Again organization has vocally condemned U.S. lawmakers who have received political contributions from the NRA. It is now time for us as a community to condemn our United States 10th District Representative, Jeff Denham, for the contributions he has received from the NRA. According to the Modesto Bee, Denham has received $62,900 from the National Rifle Association. Let’s put aside political parties and fight for the safety of all.

By Jasmine López

-Opinion -

“THE GREASTEST CIVIL RIGHT YOU HAVE IS THE RIGHT TO STAY ALIVE.”

- JOHN HOWARD

Have a different viewpoint? Please submit your thoughts to mohipantherpress@gmail.com. Staff would appreciate the opportunity to publish varying thoughts on this issue.